Amie and I went to our first play of the year at Black Hills Playhouse. What an enchanting venue, nestled deep in the Ponderosa pine, a tinkling creek winding between the campus buildings, and the cabin smell of the impressively professional stage room.
The play was outstanding. Funny, thought-provoking, and engrossing. When it travels, see it where you are.
On this day in 2020 I wrote,
How does one stand in a line that wraps the DMV for two hours without growing irritable? It helps a lot to be reading about the suffering of six million Black Americans. “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson.
Wilkerson’s #book was on my mind last night, as was Derek Bell’s “Faces At the Bottom of the Well”. My #conversion is ongoing, but I’m deeper than I was. Many thanks to my Uncle Mark for the timely recommendation three years ago!
#AmericanHistory
I hiked my first leg of the #CentennialTrail last week!
I had to lower the entry barrier from a two-day hike to one, but an unexpected detour still made for a nine mile hike. More to come, but here’s my write-up of the journey.
As of mid-May Royal is officially potty trained! Guess how many diapers I changed this week? Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Zero? ZERO? YES!!!!!
We purchased a swing for the boys at the start of May. There’s been so much laughter since.
Our good friend, and Royal’s godmother, Kati Ray, came to visit us in early May!
Kati brought gifts…
We went hiking…
Visited Crazy Horse Memorial…
And dropped by cousin Sarah’s Keystone convenience store for some Sarsaparilla!
It’d be impossible to overemphasize how happy we were to see Kati. So, so wonderful.
I’ve been on an unscheduled hiatus in May. We began to host visitors and I was battling some discouragement from some ministry opportunities that may be delayed. I’ll catch you up on the highlights soon!
Graham’s birthday party was a space theme this year. We held it at a nearby park. So many people showed up. Comically, I don’t have many pictures of the birthday boy himself. He spent most of the time playing far from the action.
Basement renovations are well on their way thanks to our friend and local contractor Steve and his family.
And some funny pictures, just for a laugh.
We were amazed to discover that a friend of Amie’s, Jim Walker, from her days in Pittsburgh was riding the bus to Crazy Horse Memorial with us! He’s suffered terribly in the intervening years since the Hot Metal church plant, but Holy Spirit sent Amie and I to encourage him that his work has not been in vain.
For Graham’s birthday he and I went on our first camping trip together!
We set up the tent, explored the area, started a campfire, and roasted hot dogs and s’mores. Graham was so excited the first night that he couldn’t stop moving until nearly nine o’clock.
Since we had to reserve at least two nights, we picked up Amie and Royal and all of us stayed overnight for the second evening.
Graham had to work through some feelings when we arrived back at the campsite with Amie and Royal. He was happy that Royal was there, but also disappointed that he no longer enjoyed the woods undisturbed. But he and Royal got through it and had a glorious time pretending to be pterodactyls.
My friends Tommy, Gerry, Kim and Jennifer dropped in at the campsite. They’re in the Black Hills looking for a plot of land to bootstrap a retreat center. So glad we could visit with them!
Not long after the boys were put to bed it began to rain. Amie and I sat in the car to chat, but when we went to our tents I discovered Royal fast asleep on an island in the center of a pool of rainwater. I was ready to call it quits but Amie suggested we could fit into the two-person with she and Graham. So that’s what we did, though I joked that I’ll have more room in my coffin.
In spite of the tight squeeze and being cold, both boys thought the camping trip was spectacular and can’t wait to go again.
The day after our camping trip Royal tripped and smashed his forehead into a wall corner, knocking a gouge almost a half-inch long into his forehead. Blood everywhere. Shouting, cursing, and crying galore.
Gratefully we were able to get Royal in to see his regular doctor instead of the ER. It was a simple steri-strip and glue job. It took awhile for the adrenaline to run down.
